3(5 BOARD OF AGKICITLT^'RE. 



opmcnt, it is necessary to show that it actually does, or mar 

 be made to yield a fair profit on capital i)ivested, over and 

 above wages and all other charges. And how is this point to 

 be settled ? Plainly in the same manner as the merchant or 

 manufacturer determines the same point in relation to their 

 business — viz: by keeping exact accounts and making th-e 

 proper entries to debt and credit. The trader charges the cost 

 of his goods, transportation, rents, clerk-hire and the vaiioijg 

 expenses incident to his business, and credits sales. The man- 

 ufacturer makes the proper entries regarding investments in 

 buildings, machinery, raw materials^ labor, repairs, &c. &c., and 

 the merchant regarding the cost of his ships, outfits, labor, 

 insurance, &c., and both credit the returns yielded, and the 

 ledger will show, beyond a peradventure, whether the business be 

 profitabld or not. Now such a system of accounts is what is 

 needed by the farmer, in order that he may be able to determine 

 with a good degree of certainty, what his crops and other prod- 

 ucts cost, and whether they yield a profit or not, when sold. 



On the one side should be placed the cost, or a fair vahiatioa 

 of, lands, buildings, implements, animals, manures, labor, (not 

 less that of the wife in the dairy, of the boys in dropping corn, 

 &c., than one's own labor in the field, or that of the " hired 

 help,") and all the other items of expense which go to make up 

 the cost of what is produced. On the other hand, should be 

 credited at a fair price, the value of a7^ the products and 7^csu/is 

 — hay, grains, roots, dairy products, increase of stock in number 

 or value, the enhanced value of the farm by better fencing, deeper 

 ploughing, higher cultivation and manuring, by underdraining, by- 

 reclaiming of waste or swamp lands, or in any other way. 



Thus, and thus only, can a farmer determine with certainty, 

 either the general results of his operations or the cost of par- 

 ticular crops, and products ; but to do it requires labor and care, 

 and many may say, they have no idea of going into book-keeping 

 in order to determine whether farming be profitable or not ; they 

 are content to know that they get a good living without it^ 

 and as for what they sell, it will bring just as much and no 

 more, than if they knew exactly what it cost. But is noth- 

 ing more than an answer to the question, whether farming be 

 profitable or not, to be thus obtained ? Let us see ; for I feel 



